"The Third Option" by Miles McPherson

Yesterday I finished The Third Option by Miles McPherson, pastor of the Rock Church in San Diego, California.  It was a thoroughly engaging, thought-provoking read.  Living as an immigrant and now dual-citizen of Australia gave me much more to consider than simply race relations in the United States, as a person who identifies as White living as a foreigner.  Here it is not so much the colour of my skin but my birthplace and accent which sets me apart.

The primary value of the book for me was to explore my own biases regarding identity and race.  Growing up I always felt like my perspective didn't matter because I was part of the privileged majority who could never understand or appreciate the struggles of others.  Maybe all that is true.  But praise be to God all people can be loving, gracious, and accepting of others on account of how God has accepted us.  Living in a foreign land has taught me many valuable lessons, enriched my life, and given me empathy for "outsiders" I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Most people would not admit to being racist, but Miles talks about how everyone has "racial conversations" in our own heads.  This may show itself in us intentionally avoiding a conversation about race because we don't want to appear racist or offend!  Without thought we naturally categorise people based upon their appearance, language, dress, or ethnicity.  A lot of what we think we know about other people or cultures is based upon a minuscule sample size or from what we have heard--not from firsthand experience through immersion in a culture.  I can't tell you how many times I have heard Aussie slang, figured it was common, and used it myself only to be met with confused expressions by other true-blue Aussies!  It wasn't because they didn't understand what I said, but they literally hadn't heard the term used ever before.

Finally, the book brought up something which had been unwittingly weighing on my conscience.  When I was a kid I made a racist and degrading comment to a member of my extended family.  I wondered at the conscience God has given us, for God has put within us the capacity to remember a sentence or word we spoke 30 years ago which was hurtful to others and displeasing to God.  I was wounded in remembering what I said and the tears flowed.  Praise the LORD He brings our sin to mind so we can repent of it, ask for forgiveness, and be reconciled with God and others.  It is a privilege to be reconciled to God and people we have wounded, whether by ignorance or malice.  Words have an incredible capacity to wound or to edify.  If we have used our words to hurt or tear others down, it is in humbling ourselves before God and man in repentance which results in restoration and encouragement for all.

Return and Rejoice

We've been studying through Hosea at Calvary Chapel Sydney on Sundays and I happen to be in the book of Amos for my morning devotions, a prophet who was a contemporary of Hosea.  Because the northern kingdom of Israel had rebelled from God, severe judgment was coming.  Israel resembled a stubborn heifer who refused to budge, so God would put her in the position of a vulnerable lamb in open country.  The fall of Israel at the hand of her enemies was a tragic consequence for her sin.

Amos 3:11-12 says, "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "An adversary shall be all around the land; he shall sap your strength from you, and your palaces shall be plundered." ¹² Thus says the LORD: "As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out who dwell in Samaria--in the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch!"  The people of the northern kingdom vainly hoped they would be spared, and they frantically tried to make treaties with their enemies rather than repenting before God.  God made it clear no one in the northern kingdom would escape:  the lamb who decided to forage in the open country would be torn in pieces by the lion of Assyria.  They could hide away in darkened homes upon beds and couches but they would be found and removed.

Whilst the context of this passage was a warning of certain judgment, there is for believers great consolation found here.  If a lion did steal and eat a sheep of the flock, the shepherd would boldly pursue and remove legs or even an ear from the mouth of lion.  David described slaying a lion which came against the flock, and a hungry lion would not easily relinquish a kill without a fight.  Shepherds who worked under a master would retrieve the torn parts of sheep as evidence they had not stolen the lamb or sheep for themselves.  Another way of viewing the passage in light of God's grace, mercy, and love is God knew those who were left in Samaria the capital who were too feeble, sick, or wounded to flee.  Though God's judgment was harsh, He exhibited compassion to consider the torn remnant worth delivering from the mouth of the lion.

Peter compared Satan to a "roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."  Even if he is permitted to sink teeth or claws into one who wanders, Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who saves and delivers.  Whilst there was no hope for the northern kingdom of Israel at that time because they would not repent, there remains hope for all today who cry out for help and deliverance.  Our Saviour who rose from the dead is able to bring new life out of death.  We are not to blame the devil for our pains, for God disciplines those who He loves.  Hosea 6:1 says, "Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up."  Pain is a trigger for men and women of faith to seek healing from God, not run from Him in unbelief.  After David confessed his sin he wrote to God in Psalm 51:8, "Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice."

Hosea and David credited God for pains He allowed them to endure, knowing He who tore them was their only way to healing and restoration.  God who delivered David from the paw of lion, bear, and even the giant Philistine prised him from the figurative mouth of the lion, sin which worked to damn him body and soul to hell.  What an awesome God who shows love towards us, to heal, redeem, and save us when we were yet sinners.  In Him we will find cause to rejoice forever.

Sought In Affliction

In preparing for this week's message at Calvary Chapel Sydney, I came across a quote from Matthew Henry that impacted me:  "Carnal hearts, in time of trouble, see their sickness, but do not see the sin that is the cause of it." (Matthew Henry Concise, pg. 11112)  This insight is easily verified in our own lives, for it is easier for us to describe our negative symptoms to a doctor than to know for certain the cause our malady.  We may have theories about how or when we contacted a virus, but the fact we would even go to a doctor shows our need for help in treatment.

God spoke through Hosea the prophet concerning His people in Hosea 5:13, "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb; yet he cannot cure you, nor heal you of your wound."  Ephraim and Judah were able to see their symptoms, but they did not seek healing in God.  They vainly went to the king of Assyria for help to assuage their symptoms, desperate for peace.  The unstoppable Assyrian war machine was headed their way, and all hope of successfully defending their borders was lost.  The cause of Israel's trouble was not the might of Assyria but they had forsaken the LORD.  God's complaint was His people did not even know Him, as their sins separated them from God.

This passage of scripture caused me to consider:  am I like the Israelites who only sought to relieve their symptoms or do I seek God to be cured?  Physicians do not in themselves have the power to heal anyone but utilise medical training to prescribe medicine, treatment, and procedures to promote the natural healing ability of the body.  The illness of Israel was exhibited by physical symptoms but had a spiritual cause only God could heal.  Israel stooped to attempt to make a peace treaty with their enemies rather than seek the LORD in repentance.  Instead of making deals with the devil, God's people ought to be zealous in repentance before Him (Revelation 3:19).

Whilst all physical illness we endure does not have a spiritual cause (Job's friends were presumptuous to assume he was afflicted as a direct result of his sin), in the case of Israel there was a direct correlation.  Because they had forsaken God they did not seek Him in their trouble, and because they did not know Him they did what was right in their own eyes.  How often have we too sought help in our trouble from what could not cure us!  Praise the LORD He is sufficient for all things, by grace having provided us all things which pertain to life and godliness.  When we cry out to God in repentance, He comes to us in our affliction.  In our struggle may we seek Him, desiring Him over healing or salvation because He is worthy.

Flawed but Loved

I saw an article the other day concerning "hands models" who make their living by posing for advertisements.  One of the photos shown struck me as a microcosm of the phoniness of this world and the things of it:  what is portrayed as reality isn't always the case.

As I considered the picture later, I thought of the message it conveys:  a model with a pretty face doesn't always have the hands to match the flawless ideal, and the model with photogenic hands doesn't have the face the advertiser wants.  The world has set up a facade to worship, an impossible ideal to measure up to.  What is considered beautiful today can be cast off as old or ugly tomorrow.  We chase perfection without hope, for even those who have lovely hands are not judged to have the face to match.  Change our appearance as we might, there always remains in us a flaw beyond our grasp.

This is where Jesus Christ meets us in spite of our imperfections.  He does not seek us out for the beauty of our face and reject our hands:  He loves us wholly out of His goodness and grace.  We are not like the model whose face is acceptable but her hands are not presentable.  We cannot measure up to a standard of physical or spiritual perfection, and we are never called to.  The Law was given to show a man his need for forgiveness and not a means to measure righteousness.  No man by working can attain an acceptable standard of righteousness before God.  But when we place our faith in Jesus Christ who died for us, we are accepted by Him and walk in His love.  God demonstrated His love for us when we were yet sinners through Christ dying on Calvary.

Many people think we can earn God's favour or acceptance by our efforts, but this is impossible.  No one can earn God's love by attempts to measure up, by altering our behaviour or trying to "clean up our act."  There is no act which can fool God, for He and our conscience confirms we are sinners who deserve eternal punishment for our sin.  Having received the Gospel and forgiveness by grace through faith we respond by choosing to live in the righteous way which pleases the God who loves and gave Himself for us.  Our identity should not be found in what we do or how we look but in who God is and our reconciled relationship with Him.  We are flawed, but God looks upon those who trust in Him as flawless.

Proverbs 31:30 says, "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised."  We praise and compliment people for their looks, but those who fear the LORD shall be praised.  This world and the glory of it is passing away.  I love the observation of C.S. Lewis who said Jesus was able to pass through walls to meet with the disciples who hid behind locked doors because in His resurrected state He was the most real thing.  Locked doors and stone walls are mist and vapour before Him who is eternal and awesome.  Only God is worthy of glory and honour, yet God provides undeserving sinners salvation and eternal life with Him by grace.